My E46 V12 6speed swap

[e46v12 477]

Hey Team

Been awhile so during the lock down have had abit more time and done a little more to the v8 e46 wagon.

after alot of thinking and ive gone away from the airbox idea as there was just no room to plumb and intake to the left. So this is where i got the idea for a OTR intake usually found off holden LS's 

Also scored a nissan silvia radiator with a twin fan setup, which should fit quite nicely once i can get bits welded after lockdown is over.

 

 

Edited April 9, 2020 by e46v12

[leonf 162]

Richard

 

fellow PalmNth local here. Would love to have a look at your project sometime. And if you have not seen, in person, the HellBM s54 M3 Touring build happy to show you and take it for a spin. Yours will chuck out more hp, I suspect.........

[zero 1162]

The OTR intake is a great idea ?.

What merc is the supercharger from?

Is it an Eaton 112 or 122 or similar?

[e46v12 477]

Hey Nathan yeah it actually fits quite well and looks pretty cool. As for the super charger there isnt much info on it, all i could find was it made by ihi and capable of making 2.1L. Mines from a e55 AMG m113k if you want to look for more info. But in saying that i know i change my mind often and have decided im going to put the supercharger onto the x5 manual swap build. Due to the height and space in the engine bay plus i think the e46 wagon has more than enough power to keep it fun as N/A. 

@leonf send me a private message I'm more than happy to T up a time after lock down for you to pop around to see the projects, would love to also have a ride in your beast too.

Edited April 11, 2020 by e46v12

[WYZEUP 283]

Love the idea of the OTR always wanted to do something like that in my e30

[e46v12 477]

you should @WYZEUP there's a few going for cheap on trade me, buying new they are expensive!

 

[WYZEUP 283]

There's just no room for it in such a small engine bay while still keeping a functoinable sized radiator

[e46v12 477]

I had that same issue too, thats why i brought another radiator slightly shorter in height so i could lower it to fit the OTR over the top but will still need to get the new radiator custom mounted some how.

[zero 1162]

I was looking at buying one for a while but I will custom make one instead out of alloy because of the confined space.

 

[e46v12 477]

Hey Team 

Long time since last post, got heaps done since the lock down, also with other small little projects going on too.

But finally got the custom radiator bracket made, all plump in. I had to customize the AFM sensor to have a little bung to feed air to the ICV i tried to do a ICV delete but it ran like rubbish. Also put a DME with a custom tune for a m62b44 non vanos that i had spare into the car which works perfectly with the m60b44 motor currently in there.

So car is running good now and drives as it should, the intention was to enter it into at least one drift day, but since hearing there have been a few rule changes which requires drives to wear/have more safty gear which i agree with, but is just going to cost way too much to justify one drift session, so that wont be happening now.

But i found a lovely Estoril blue e46 msport sedan with a blown auto, my intentions was to change the auto out and flick it off but its just too good of a car to get rid of. 

So change of plans im stripping all the running gear from the wagon and putting it all into the sedan now. But will be making a few changes like using a 320z zf 5 speed box with a v8 bellhousing, so gone with the adpater plate also the detents needed changing in the diesel box. I will be getting a full face clutch plate made as the puck is just a tad rough for driving, and to fix some small oil leaks in the braided lines from the dry sump. Bonus too that the sedan is a 2002 where the wagon is a 1999 so finally get the yearly wofs.

Fun times ahead.

[e46v12 477]

Hey Team 

So finally cracked onto stripping the e46 wagon of the v8 running gear to go into the e46 blue sedan and also stripped the sedan of its running gear.

sedan ready for the v8 swap

Dropping the fuel tank to prep up in order to weld some reinforcement plates.

I managed to get the motor out with the headers still attached.

I will be swapping out the adapter plate and diesel box out in favour of the factory zf 320z v8 5 speed box

I have sent the flywheel setup away to Greg at MP auto to get a new firiction plate relined.

Also did a trip to Auckland last weekend and picked up this v12 mock engine to start fitting into the M3

E46 wagon running gear out, so i thought i would use this opportunity to test fit this motor to see if it was possible  

This a n62b48 out of a 750i rear sump v8 and i tell you what, its doable! may need a little cutting but could be worth it to someone that wants to go down this road.

So only real issue i saw was that having the motor sit as far back as possible the steering pump was fouling on the steering rack.

just slightly touching the subframe with the lower oil pan

Alternator was pretty close to the chassis rail too but with a bit of a massage with a hammer she would fit like a glove.

Left side also touching just slightly

With the motor this far back there would be no way of fitting a gearbox unless you cut the tunnel up.

Steering looks like it would clear with a custom set of headers.

So if anyone was looking at doing this swap or attempting to. My advice would be to modify the lower oil pan by cuting it down by 3-5cm. Move the motor foward 3-5cm the you would solve the tunnel, steering issue. 

Thanks Team

[e46v12 477]

Hey Team long time no post.

Its been a while but things still have been trucking along in the background, mainly trying to get these side project cars finished and flicked off which some of you may have seen on trade me.

But good news is ive finally got some subframe plates lazer cut out and got them semi folded into shape on the chassis and then welded. Once done i can get onto refitting the m3 rear end and piecing the car back together.

So slight change of plans again. 

I will now be fitting the M62tub46 motor into the Blue sedan instead of the e34 wagon.

Ill be taking all the dry sump setup from the m60b44 and all associating bits ie exhaust headers and engine mounts and using it with this motor which should be a straight swap, i'll will also try retro fitting the x5 4.6is dash into the e46 too. The M60b44 will be reused in my e34 wagon project instead with a superchager ontop  

Lastly also managed to score this puppy from a mate ( thanks Quinn) 

A 6 speed for the swap as well as it really needs the 6th gear due to it using so much petrol on highway driving.

Will hope to get this car together hopfully by the end of the year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 26, 2020 by e46v12

[zero 1162]

Awesome progress.

 

What is the advantage with using the 4.6is dash?

[e46v12 477]

Hey Nathan 

no real advantage just cosmetic really, if you seen m3 or m5 or even your x5 how the dash lights up and has the oil temp on the rev counter, just looks cool.

[e46v12 477]

Hey Team 

Another few busy weekends gone by trying to get the sedan upto this point. 

So after getting a quote to get the subframe plates welded in i thought at that price i might as well buy a welder and try it myself... so i did.

heres my weld job not perfect but i think i did alright.

So plates are all done and i managed to bolt the whole rear end back in.

So heres the fun part i purchased a n62 oil pump and sump off Glenn who's a member on here a while back thinking one day id like to get the swap to work. Well i thought to myself if the cars already getting certed i should try and make the sump work. The dry sump still works but i quite like the idea of a clean setup, which is where i got the idea to modify the engine cross member to suit the sump. Since i already had the engine mounts ready for the motor and was already in a good position, it was a case of making the other stuff work. Worst case is it doesnt work and i go back to the Drysump setup.

N62 sump bolted to a spare m60 block

Modified cross member which i will look at boxing up later on.

Test Fitted but needed a little shaving off the oil pan hitting the steering rack

But other than that looks to be a winner with good clearance for the rack and powersteering lines.

Factory Alternator housing just fits too. So also test fitted the v8 420g box and im quite happy with the whole outcome. I swapped the output flange on the v8 420g with a m3 420g and reused the m3 gearbox cross member and m3 driveshaft, it all lined up and bolted together. Also did some test fitting with the Exhaust manifolds, due to the rear sump only number2 primary was fouling on the sump so i will look at making another one and tweaking it slightly to fit.

Just need to shave 3-4mm off the oil sump to make it flush with the engine block.

So i will test fit the other side next weekend and hopefully that fits with no issues. Only other hiccups i came across was the starter motor on the 4.6is motor is on the drivers side, so will have to relcoate that to the passager side and get a hole drilled into the block. Also a good thing i noticed was that X5 motors have their oil pump sprocket in the far corner like the n62 one. I see some people have had trouble finding the right sprocket and chain to match. Hopefully the X5 one will fit straight on.

Edited November 22, 2020 by e46v12

[e46v12 477]

Hey Team

Long time no post. its been a while still the last post, almost a year. I can tell you all that the projects are still alive and kicking, I've just been busy toying with other cars, wheeling and dealing and just been a bit lazy with the posting but definitely still wrenching with the bimmers.

So slight change of plans, I was originally going to use the n62 rear sump setup on the m62 but thought it needed too much work so have opted to modify the x5 oil pump and mount it to the rear of the block and get a custom oil pump shaft made to run the front where the sprocket goes. ( currently at the engineers)

So in the mean time i picked up a 2000 manual 318i sedan and decide to throw the dry sump m60b44 with the 5 speed box into it and turn it into a drift car. Everything is all good to go other than the wiring which was meant to go to the auto sparky tomorrow but due to level 4 that wont be happening.

Brand new single mass flywheel and clutch kit.

got some new engine mounts made just to tidy up the look from the original ones.

Also got aother Hamann set of wheels sandblasted and powder coated for the e46 4.6is sedan car.

That's it for now but hopefully will start cracking into the 4.6 motor and give it a freshen up.

Thanks Team

[Creaver 55]

Nice Richard.  What clutch and flywheel did you opt for?

[e46v12 477]

Hey Ian

Im not 100% sure as i got them 2nd hand from a guy in napier, Ill double check tomorrow for you but i know they were imported from the U.K

 

 

Edited August 22, 2021 by e46v12

[e46v12 477]

Hey All 

So managed to crack into the 4.6 motor in the last 2 days, mainly to check the timing chain guides and lucky me they are pretty much brand new. No scoring on the plastic pieces, even the smaller chain tensioners both look new.  You can see in the last photot where the have welded the piece back together, this must have been when the old timing guide broke. 

I also test fitted a m62 non vanos timing cover as i want to covert it to a non water cooler alternator which it fits a treat. So tomorrow will be just cleaning surfaces and putting it all back together with new gaskets.

 

[e46v12 477]

Hey Team 

Hope everyones making the most of their lockdown. So finally got the motor all back together with most gaskets changed, now to get the engine mounts finished off and to get the oil pump back from engineers. I should be able to test fit the motor and then get the X5 sump modified to suit.

drilled out the starter hole in the passger side to allow more room for the custom headers.

[e46v12 477]

Hey Team

So have done a few more things to the project in the last few weeks. Installed the motor with new mounts to test postion, i had to slot the mounts slightly to get the engine to go back by 5mm. Shaved some of the material off the aircon bracket. Measured up front half of the drive shaft and needs to be shorten by 40mm. Fitted some 18mm frost plugs to the secondary air pump ports in the block. Sourced an e87 steering shaft and the piece that goes to the rack fits perfectly but the piece that connects to the steering column will need changing to the e46 one and Finally arrived my wiring harness from Condor speed, hope this makes the wiring up job alot easier. 

Getting closer team

 

[e46v12 477]

Hey Team

So managed to get a few small items sorted. 

Refitting factory radiator so i can get the aircon and powersteering lines from the e46 to work. Had to customize the rad hoses abit to work with the motor.

Got the drive shaft and steering shaft back, both fitted and working a treat. Shorten the selector rod too to work with the RTD shifter.

With a bit more room now, Im hoping to be able to make some decent headers for it.

Also have to get the aircon hoses custom made as the factory ones dont line up, she's pretty tight due to not allowed to cut into the chassis rail.

Spoke to the machine shop and hopefully not too long on the oil pump either.

[e46v12 477]

Hey Team 

Hope every one is well and ready for the silly season.

Small update but a good one. Finally got my oil pump setup back from the turning shop. I had to source two n62 front oil shaft supporters to hold the new longer shaft in place. the X5 pump now bolts right up the back. Also had to get a spacer made for the pick up to be able to rotate it inwards. Next step is to get my engineer to help fab up the new sump and oil feed lines.

Also got my exhaust flanges cut, Brought a lego kit to help aid in making the headers myself and brought all the 180 bends ready to go for over the summer.

As i was originally was going to use a steering shaft from a e87/e90 when i was at the wreakers i noticed that the F series have even a slimmer one. so i took the plunge and brought two. After some test fitting the base U-joint are the same spline as the e46, the top needs to be swapped with the e46 one and the total length was shorten by 20-25mm which now matches the factory e46 length. I will use one for the v8 swap and one for the v12 swap.

Now the main part is back ( the oil pump) i can get the ball rolling again.

Thanks Team

Edited December 2, 2021 by e46v12

[Cement 872]

A'hoy there ... good times ahead mocking and building the headers I'm on the home stretch fabricating mine also and have used a similar approach, just printed on 3D printer instead of purchased. I've got a build thread in the projects section with plenty of pics (really, i've been working on the damn things for MONTHS) and such of my process which may be helpful to you.

The biggest PITA for mine was dealing with the 1D CLR donuts ... just not high quality pieces which means loads more time dicking around getting things to play nice. Looks like you're avoiding them which will make life easier for sure !! All in all its a good approach I think but quite time consuming as are most things that get a quality result.

[e46v12 477]

@Cement hi David i just had a look at your build and mate a very nice job. its almost like we are doing the same thing. im the back yard garage diyer style and yours is professionally done way   but thanks for the share, ill look upon your build for tips. But as you said key is to have heaps of time and patience.